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Creative work

environments are more productive

Learn what small things you can do to make a difference.

· Organisational,Creativity Tools

If Covid has changed anything, it's the way that many of us have accepted that we can work efficiently and productively from home. Whatever barriers existed to employers enabling this was completely overturned over the past 12 months.

So let's explore how we can make our home environments more creative as we take on this new challenge of staying creative, and embracing the creative advantage.

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Consider where you can make small but significant practical changes to influence your home office and work surrounds to help you be more creative and focused.

 

These suggestions can help you prime your environment so it’s ready for your immediate creative use.

  • Add a pop of colour: Next time the office, spare bedroom or little nook space,  needs a paint job aim for bright colours that reflect more light and act as a stimulant. If you can’t paint the whole space try adding an item with a strong pop of colour to your desk. Green and blue are calming and can improve focus, yellow is associated with optimism and red is active and intense and increases heart rate and blood flow. Match the wall and room’s objective with a colour.
  • Put up artwork: There’s a growing body of research that shows the benefits of viewing art in our built environment to reduce stress and improve creativity.
  • Aim for the light: There’s a reason most people prefer a desk near a sunny window as light helps regulate our circadian rhythms, leading to higher energy levels and mood. Research shows that workers who get more light exposure in their offices are more physically active during the day and sleep better at night.
  • Sit in sunshine: Sunlight regulates the circadian rhythms elevating the neurotransmitter serotonin, critical in balancing mood, so aim to work for some periods outside.
  • Listen to music: To encourage efficiency, creativity and deep thinking. For analysing long documents try listening to more sonatas and film scores.
  • Whiteboard everything: Walls, boards… they make the entire office into a creative common and means that pop-up work areas can happen anywhere.
  • Buy a plant:We know exposure to nature helps restore our attention and can lessen the effects of stress on our bodies and minds, and even a plant can improve attention and reduce blood pressure.
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For more ideas check out

The Creative Advantage: How the intersection of science and creativity
reveals life’s ultimate advantage, Chapter 15